During staff development workshops I often ask educators to reflect and share why they decided on a career in education. The truth is, while reaching towards our goal to improve the lives of students, the path often gets blurred by the demands of the day-to-day.

As National Bullying Prevention Month is recognized in communities across America, with schools and other organizations joined as partners, awareness of bullying and its consequences continues to be a vital part of our nation’s conversation.

It’s déjà vu all over again, as another start to the school year is upon us. This is a time to reconnect to our reasons for caring about students and doing all we can to ensure that they attend schools where they feel welcome, safe and connected to caring adults.

A common mistake many parents and school officials make is to think that gang activity is limited to a particular group of youth who live in a particular community and lack resources that other youth may have. While these do play a factor, in my experience one does not need to be a validated gang member to have the gang mentality.

In today’s world of ubiquitous online communication, the practice of mistreating other people through texting, social media and gaming is an ongoing problem. How can we support our young people in recognizing the problem and standing up for the person being targeted? Here are 3 simple steps to building upstander behavior online.

We are living in a time where sexting, revenge porn, date rape, hazing and other forms of sexual abuse and harassment are happening too frequently in our schools. Safe School Ambassadors help address the problem by modeling relationships built on compassion, not dominance.

When misbehavior occurs, how we choose to intervene can either strengthen our relationships and connections with students or damage them. "Connect to Correct" is a process to address mistreatment that preserves relationships, leaves students' dignity intact and supports behavior change.

Today more and more schools are implementing a restorative practices approach in their school climate improvement efforts. However, too many schools fail to recognize the importance of fully engaging two critical “stakeholder” groups: students and parents/families.

LGBTQ-identified youth are more likely to experience bullying, teasing, harassment, physical assault, and rejection than their non-LGBTQ-identified peers. What can we do, as a strong parent advocate, to create a climate of safety and joy in schools? To create a true home away from home for ALL students?

Here in California, school district’s LCAP plans must focus on eight priority areas that help all students succeed and thrive. Of these eight priorities, Community Matters has been committed to providing support to schools by focusing on these three: student engagement, school climate and parent involvement.

When alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATODs) are such a pervasive and prevalent issue facing teens, how do we help them connect with one another and provide space for them to share their stories in a safe, meaningful way?

As school administrators we have a moral obligation to build in our staff the “capacity to meet the challenge” of educating today's students. However, in this instance, the capacity that we deal with is known as relational capacity, or the level of trust and safety between a teacher and a student.

I am proud that I was selected from my peers as a leader to take a stand against bullying and mistreatment and serve as a Safe School Ambassador for three years in high school. The Safe School Ambassadors program is unique because it focuses on training students with skills to create a safer school climate and to safely intervene when we, the students, see problems occurring.

If we know that bullying can lead to suicide, how do we intervene and interrupt in order to promote an alternative response, both by the target as well as by the bystanders, the roughly 85% of a student body that holds tremendous power to change the course of someone else’s life?

Starting the school year off right - what does that mean exactly? This time of year can be fraught with anxiety, not only for students but for parents as well. According to the Pew Research Center, “At least half of all parents, regardless of income, worry that their children might be bullied or struggle with anxiety or depression at some point.” What do we do to let students know that we care?

Serving as the Founder and Executive Director of Community Matters has been one of the greatest gifts in my life. Working on behalf of all children and youth has grown me as a person, helped me address and heal my own childhood history of bullying and trauma and strengthened my skills and expertise as a thought leader in our areas of service.

Back when I was in high school in Red Bluff, California, I was a Safe School Ambassador. Recently I was reflecting on how this program had made a difference in my life, because in fact, if it hadn’t been for the SSA program, I would never have become a teacher, and I never would have met Nate.

As educators and caring adults, we’re always looking for ways to reduce student’s risky behavior, increase their attendance and improve their achievement. What we have often failed to recognize, is that having students serve as the “change agents and peace makers” on school campuses goes a long way to optimizing the conditions for learning and positive behavior to occur.